Bob Leddy: Batman’ and Expressionism

It seems somehow inconceivable that the iconic film “Batman’’ is this year celebrating its silver anniversary. Yet, indeed, 25 years have passed since director Tim Burton’s action/drama hit American screens,...

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Posted Feb. 25, 2014 @ 12:01 am

It seems somehow inconceivable that the iconic film “Batman’’ is this year celebrating its silver anniversary. Yet, indeed, 25 years have passed since director Tim Burton’s action/drama hit American screens, the prototype modern-day Hollywood blockbuster. The 1989 picture also spawned a host of successful “Batman’’ sequels that have turned the old comic book anti-hero into a cash cow.

Burton’s movie took in more than $400 million at the box office on a $48 million budget; more in subsequent video sales. Filmed primarily on the back lot of Britain’s Pinewood Studios, “Batman’’ wrapped — somewhat amazingly — in only three months.

Starting with my initial viewing, I considered “Batman’’ a paean to German Expressionism, most particularly on two fronts. Jack Nicholson gleefully played the psychotic Joker, a character starkly reminiscent of the hideously deformed Gwynplaine of Paul Leni’s 1928 German shocker “The Man Who Laughs.” Then, too, there was “Batman’s’’ production designer, British-born Anton Furst (1944-1991), whose brilliant artistry assured its rightful place as a major character in the film. (I could safely opine the major character.) “I may have taken design into a new area just a little bit,” he modestly commented.

Furst came to Burton’s attention because of his noir-ish design work on Neil Jordan’s “Company of Wolves’’ (1984). Director and designer were simpatico on the “Batman’’ set. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt so naturally in tune with a director,’’ said Furst, who also did production work for Stanley Kubrick on 1987’s “Full Metal Jacket’’ (again, on the strength of “Company of Wolves’’). “There was never any problem,” Furst added. “We never fought over anything. Texture, attitude and feelings are what Burton is a master at.’’

Furst, a graduate of London’s Royal College of Art, transformed the film’s Gotham City into an Expressionist nightmare harking back to such Weimar-era masterpieces as Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis,’’ or F. W. Murnau’s “The Last Laugh.’’ He created smoky factories, soaring campaniles and gargoyle-adorned, iron latticework skyscrapers, all serving to close in on the city’s traffic-choked streets and ominous alleyways. His stated aim was to “make Gotham City the ugliest and bleakest metropolis imaginable.

“I imagined what New York City might’ve become without a Planning Commission,’’ Furst said. “A city run by crime, with a riot of architectural styles; an essay in ugliness. As if hell erupted through the pavement and kept on going.’’ Indeed, Gotham City’s look and feel prompted the Joker/Nicholson’s icy observation: “Decent people shouldn’t live here.” The images also engendered some criticism over “Batman’s’’ dark tone, a complete departure from the rather silly and cartoonish-looking 1960s television show.

For the cathedral where Batman and Joker stage their ultimate battle, Furst designed a dizzying and looming edifice that all but defined acrophobia. The church’s Gothic belfry was like a set torn from Murnau’s “Nosferatu.’’ In crafting the Batmobile, Furst again followed an imaginative route. “I looked at jet aircraft components, at war machines . . . all sorts of things. In the end, I went into pure Expressionism, taking the Salt Flats racers of the ’30s and the Stingray macho machines of the ’50s.’’

Finally, he designed the film’s theatrical poster, and subsequent video cover.

Furst’s efforts on “Batman’’ earned him the 1989 Academy Award for best production design. Tragically, his life ended in suicide on Nov. 24, 1991, his future contributions to art and motion pictures merely speculative. (His final project was the otherwise mawkish 1990 film “Awakenings’’.) With “Batman,’’ however, Anton Furst leaves behind a striking visual legacy that alone makes this movie worthwhile.